I have been doing more experimenting with no knead bread flavours and this one is a goodun’.  The orange is a good background flavour and the stars of the show are the spices which give a good flavour without being too overpowering.  This would make great french toast for breakfast on Christmas Day, one of our family traditions!

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• zest and juice of 2 oranges
• water

Mix first 7 ingredients together in a large bowl.  Zest the oranges and add the zest into the bowl and mix well.  Juice the oranges and put the juice into a measuring jug.  Make up to 1 1/2 cups with water and add to dry ingredients.  Stir together until you have a thick dough and there are no lumps. The mixture will be quite sticky. Cover with cling film or a plate and leave to rise for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Once you are ready to bake the bread, place your dutch oven into your oven and preheat to 230 degrees celcius. While the oven is heating, flour your counter and gently tip the dough out. Try not to handle too much as you want to try and keep as much air in the dough as possible. Using well floured hands, form the dough into a ball and place onto baking paper to rest while your oven comes to temperature.

Once your oven has come to temperature, remove the dutch oven and place the bread, still on the paper, inside. I spritz the top of my bread with some water to create steam then pop the lid back on and return to the oven for 40 mins until the loaf is puffed and has risen nicely. Remove the lid from the pot and cook for a further 10 – 15 mins until the top is crusty and golden.

Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven and let it cool for a bit until you can handle the bread then remove the paper and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, although I can never wait and normally cut the end off for a sample after 10 mins!

Enjoy!